he could look into her
eyes. "I'm thinking that we are going to live here the rest of our
lives, and so are the children. If the story about Boggs is true, we're
all concerned. We wouldn't be down here if the power plant hadn't been
destroyed. We'd be living in our good home in Maintown. Would you expect
me to let Boggs get away with this without raising a hand to stop him?"

"Yes--I would," said Bonnie, "because there is nothing anyone can do.
You know he has Maintown in the palm of his hand. He's screened out
every ruffian and soured colonist in the whole group and they'll do
anything he says. You can't fight them all, Mark. I won't let you."

"It won't be me alone," said Jorden. "If it develops into a fight the
majority of the colony will be with us. Earth will be with us. Boggs
will be facing the results of the whole two billion year struggle it
took to make man what he now is."

* * * * *

In the lounge off the lab cafeteria, Ashby indulged in a late coffee
knowing he wouldn't sleep anyway. Across the table Bonnie ate sparingly
of a belated supper.

"The threat of having to fight Boggs didn't give him much of a scare,"
said Ashby thoughtfully.

"It'll take a lot more than a bogey man like Boggs to scare Mark," said
Bonnie. "You've got yourself a bigger quantity of man than you bargained
for."

"This might turn out to be more interesting than we thought. I wish
there were more time to spend on him. But Merton called up again today
to verify the ultimatum I told you about. We produce colonists by the
time Hull Four is complete or they turn the personnel problem over to
Winthrop--even after they saw Carnahan go to pieces before their eyes."

"Has it ever occurred to you," said Bonnie slowly, "that we might just
possibly be off on the wrong foot? How do you know that any of the
colonists of Earth's history could have stood up to the demands of
Serrengia? I'm beginning to suspect that the Mayflower's passenger list
would have folded quite completely under these conditions. They had it
comparatively easy. So did most other successful colonists."

"Yes--?" said Ashby.

"Maybe they succeeded in _spite_ of being rebels. If they could have
come to the new lands without the pressure of flight, but in complete
freedom of action, they might have made an even greater success."

"But why would they have come at all, then?"

"I don't know. There must be another motive capable of impell